Parker makes call on the future of wine

Well-known wine critic Robert Parker, speaking this week at Wine Future Hong Kong 2011, foresees the steady decline in corks as wine stoppers, the continued rise of Spain as a key wine-producing country and bidding wars becoming common-place for the higher-echelon, collectible wines.

The much-heralded Parker, who might have as many fans as he has detractors in the wine world, played his role as Oracle to the hilt. Among his other predictions: The “total collapse” of the three-tier distribution system in the U.S.; the mainstreaming of wine-oriented online sites; France getting squeezed by the globalization of the world wine market; unoaked wines will continue to grow in popularity (this from Parker??); and “once-backwater Italian viticultural areas such as Umbria, Campania, Basilicata and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia will become household names by 2015.”